Search results for " Oceanography"
showing 10 items of 47 documents
HF radar for wind waves measurements in the Malta-Sicily Channel
2018
Abstract The CALYPSO HF radar network is a permanent and fully operational observing system currently composed of four CODAR SeaSonde stations. The system is providing real-time hourly maps of sea surface currents and waves data in the Malta-Sicily Channel. The present work aims to compare significant wave height measurements by HF Radar to wave data from numerical models and satellite altimeter. This is the first time that this set of wave data are analysed since the four HF radars were installed between 2012 and 2015. Results suggest that CODAR HF Radar wave data are a reliable source of wave information even in the case of extreme events, providing an avenue to improve and complete the o…
The UKC3 regional coupled environmental prediction system
2019
Abstract. This paper describes an updated configuration of the regional coupled research system, termed UKC3, developed and evaluated under the UK Environmental Prediction collaboration. This represents a further step towards a vision of simulating the numerous interactions and feedbacks between different physical and biogeochemical components of the environment across sky, sea and land using more integrated regional coupled prediction systems at km-scale resolution. The UKC3 coupled system incorporates models of the atmosphere (Met Office Unified Model), land surface with river routing (JULES), shelf-sea ocean (NEMO) and ocean surface waves (WAVEWATCH III), coupled together using OASIS3-MC…
The making of the New European Wind Atlas - Part 1: Model sensitivity
2020
This is the first of two papers that document the creation of the New European Wind Atlas (NEWA). It describes the sensitivity analysis and evaluation procedures that formed the basis for choosing the final setup of the mesoscale model simulations of the wind atlas. The suitable combination of model setup and parameterizations, bound by practical constraints, was found for simulating the climatology of the wind field at turbine-relevant heights with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Initial WRF model sensitivity experiments compared the wind climate generated by using two commonly used planetary boundary layer schemes and were carried out over several regions in Europe. They…
Radiogenic isotopes: new tools help reconstruct paleocean circulation and erosion input
2001
Ocean and atmosphere circulation and continental weathering regimes have undergone great changes over thousands of years as well as tens of millions of years. During the glacial stages of the Pleistocene, ocean circulation was generally more sluggish and deep water circulation in the Atlantic had a shallower flow. At the same time, weathering on the continents was enhanced by glacial erosion, particularly in high northern latitudes, which increased the input of erosional detritus into the ocean. In addition, atmospheric pressure gradients were larger, leading to higher wind speeds and increased supply of aeolian dust to the ocean. Prior to the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation and pro…
A Geometry-Based Underwater Acoustic Channel Model Allowing for Sloped Ocean Bottom Conditions
2017
This paper proposes a new geometry-based channel model for shallow-water ocean environments, in which the ocean bottom can slope gently down/up. The need for developing such an underwater acoustic (UWA) channel model is driven by the fact that the standard assumption of a flat ocean bottom does not hold in many realistic scenarios. Starting from a geometrical model, we develop a stochastic channel model for wideband single-input single-output vehicle-to-vehicle UWA channels using the ray theory assuming smooth ocean surface and bottom. We investigate the effect of the ocean-bottom slope angle on the distribution of the channel envelope, instantaneous channel capacity, temporal autocorrelati…
A Nonisovelocity Geometry-Based Underwater Acoustic Channel Model
2018
This paper proposes a new geometry-based shallow underwater acoustic (UWA) channel model allowing for nonisovelocity ocean conditions. The fact that the isovelocity assumption does not hold in many real-world scenarios motivates the need for developing channel models for nonisovelocity UWA propagation environments. Starting from a geometrical model, we develop a stochastic channel model for a single-input single-output (SISO) vehicle-to-vehicle UWA channel assuming that the ocean surface and bottom are rough and that the speed of sound varies with depth. The effect of the nonisovelocity condition has been assessed regarding its influence on the temporal autocorrelation function, the frequen…
Performance analysis of Alamouti-coded OFDM systems over spatio-temporally correlated underwater acoustic channels
2017
In this paper, we analyze the performance of Alamouti-coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems over time-varying underwater acoustic (UWA) channels. A realistic UWA channel model has been considered, which can be correlated in either time or space or simultaneously in both domains. An exact analytical expression for the bit error probability (BEP) is necessary to analyze accurately the performance of Alamouti-coded OFDM systems over the spatio-temporally correlated UWA channel model. Hence, by using this UWA channel model, an expression has been derived for the BEP of Alamouti-coded OFDM systems assuming that the receiver knows perfectly the channel state information.…
Dental wear at macro- and microscopic scale in rabbits fed diets of different abrasiveness: A pilot investigation
2020
To differentiate the effects of internal and external abrasives on tooth wear, we performed a controlled feeding experiment in rabbits fed diets of varying phytolith content as an internal abrasive and with addition of sand as an external abrasive. 13 rabbits were each fed one of the following four pelleted diets with different abrasive characteristics (no phytoliths: lucerne L; phytoliths: grass G; more phytoliths: grass and rice hulls GR; phytoliths plus external abrasives: grass, rice hulls and sand GRS) for two weeks. At the end the feeding period, three tooth wear proxies were applied to quantify wear on the cheek teeth at macroscopic and microscopic wear scales: CT scans were obtained…
Sr isotope variations in the Upper Triassic succession at Pizzo Mondello, Sicily: Constraints on the timing of the Cimmerian Orogeny
2018
Abstract The Late Triassic Cimmerian Orogeny was a result of the final closure of the Palaeotethys Ocean and the accretion of Gondwana-derived (Cimmerian) continents to southern Eurasia. Determining the timing of the Cimmerian Orogeny is crucial to our understanding of the large-scale climate changes driven by the uplift of the Cimmerian Mountains. Here we present stratigraphic variations in 87Sr/86Sr values of Upper Triassic pelagic limestone from the Pizzo Mondello section, Sicily, Italy, that constrain the timing of uplift of the Cimmerian Mountains. The 87Sr/86Sr values remain relatively constant in the lower part of the section, decreasing slightly in the Tuvalian (upper Carnian) and L…
Seasonal changes in morpho-functional aspects of two Anemonia sulcata (Pennant, 1777) wild populations
2017
Marine benthic organisms can be used as indicators of the quality of environmental status and as monitoring tools to detect natural or anthropogenic perturbations. In temperate waters, metabolic and biochemical responses may be governed by physiological changes driven by seasonal factors. Gathering baseline information on the mechanisms underlying seasonal acclimation patterns is therefore a critical step towards the understanding of the physiological responses of biological indicators. In poikilothermic metazoans, the production of regulatory metabolic enzymes can be used as tools for deciphering the acclimation potential. The aim of this study was to characterize the natural seasonal vari…